A once great series
on the N64 has recently been in a serious tailspin,
find out if there is any chance of redemption
in our detailed review of James Bond: Agent
Under Fire.

The James Bond series has
always had the makings for an excellent game.
Cool gadgets, awesome weapons, and an awesome
soundtrack that everyone and their dog knows
by heart. But why hasn't a development team
been able to bring James Bond back to greatness
since the days of the Nintendo 64? Perhaps
the answer lies in the development team behind
the current games. Sure EA is an awesome
sports company but can they really make an
acceptable first person shooter? Their track
record points to the negative but James Bond:
Agent Under Fire has a very promising look
and feel to it that could vault the game
to greatness. Does it make the grade? Read
on to find out.

Agent Under Fire features
James Bond (duh) as he ventures around the
world performing all sorts of amazing tasks
in an effort to topple a secret terrorist
conspiracy. The story is a completely original
development that strays completely away from
the movies starring Pierce Brosnan that we've
all come to love as our British hero. The
game features the same plethora of beautiful
but educated ladies that will pair with James
and work alongside with him throughout the
game. I won't spoil too much about the story
for you, but it has got plenty of twists
and turns to keep the Bond faithful pleased.
The story is well thought out and plays just
like you'd expect if you enjoyed GoldenEye
(who didn't?) and The World is Not Enough.

Gameplay centers around three
stylish modes. The game alternates properly
from level to level and gives you a taste
of the three game modes. Of course all three
modes feature plenty of Q gadgets to toy
around with and unlike other games you'll
be forced to use at least three gadgets in
each and every level.

The first game mode is the
more prominent of the three, first person
shooter resides in roughly 80 percent of
the levels. The gadgets featured in this
mode feature Q-Claw, Q-Laser, Q-Remote, and
Q-Jetpack. The Q-Claw is an excellent addition
to the already plentiful stockpile of Q gadgets.
The Q-Claw allows you to grapple between
special perforated surfaces. The Q-Laser
is the standard laser used to bust plenty
of locks during the course of the game. The
Q-Remote is used to program special actions
into a small remote such as "Harrier Program" which
allows you to light the jets on a harrier
jet. The Q-Jetpack gives you a serious addition
to your jumping ability so you can reach
high surfaces within the game.

The FPS game plays out like
you'd expect, largely featuring a hefty dose
of action and bullets flying. Speaking of
bullets flying, the way in which the bullets
move throughout the game is one of the more
hampering aspects of the title. Bullets move
unrealistically slow through the air which
makes gameplay extremely difficult and extremely
frustrating. Enemies have no problem moving
out of the way of your slow moving bullets.
While the game speed is adjustable, the game
hasn't been tuned enough for it to make much
of a difference.

The second game mode is the
driving mode. As always Bond is outfitted
with his debonair BMW featuring all the weaponry
and defense systems of a low level military
vehicle. You'll race through the streets
of different environments in search of an
object that your radar handily points out
to you with a nice little arrow. Weaponry
includes rockets, missiles, slicks, and machine
guns. The driving mode is a lot of fun to
play through and features its own set of
gadgets and its own type of fun. Driving
offers some excellent change of pace with
nicely developed physics and speed thanks
to EA's development experience.

The third game mode is rail
mode. James is basically along for the ride
in the rail mode as he's perched on the top
of a vehicle, whether it is a rail car, a
standard car, or a Soviet tank. You'll have
full 360-degree rotational ability as you
tout one or two weapons with a virtual unlimited
supply of ammunition. It's basically one
big shooting gallery with plenty of characters
to occupy your attention. Of the three game
modes the rail mode is probably the least
challenging as you don't have to worry about
maneuvering around a level instead it's just
you killing off baddies. And who doesn't
love killing off baddies?

Overall the gameplay of the
game isn't perfect featuring odd pacing and
interesting game modes; sadly the FPS mode
is quite possibly the weakest mode of the
game. Among other problems with the gameplay
you'll find yourself using your Q-Remote
a bit too much in the later levels rather
than merely progressing as you would in a
typical FPS. Another gripe with the gameplay
lies within James' profession. Isn't he supposed
to be a spy? Last time I checked spies were
supposed to stealthy and move in shadows
and dark places avoiding discovery and of
course trying to avoid a confrontation with
the enemy. Agent Under Fire is essentially
rushing the enemy, guns blazing without a
single element of stealth to be found throughout
the game.

The graphics of the game
are very acceptable at some places and very
unacceptable in others. The environments
are nicely detailed as are the player models
but sadly the majority of the players and
the environments are horribly rapped with
textures. The textures are bland and very
unrealistic. If the game had the texture
work of Halo it would be a surefire winner
in the visual department, although that goes
for most games as well. The framerate is
essentially locked in at a constant 60 frames
per second, a feature that a small percentage
of developers have been able to use. Obviously
the lack of detail in the textures of the
game allots more power to buffer the framerate.
Regardless of the reason the fact remains
that the action is quick and, as long as
you don't study the textures, looks very
acceptable.

The controls of the game
are a bit of a stifling point for the game.
Sadly in the first person shooter mode of
the game the directional pad is used to switch
weapons and gadgets. What this amounts to
is a lot time spent fumbling around with
the controls finding the right weapon or
gadget, all the while being pummeled by the
onslaught of enemies that populate the game.
The rest of the actions are adequately placed
around the controller. James has the ability
to jump, duck, use a gadget, and reload his
weapon and/or open a door or press a button.
Looking, moving, and strafing are performed
by the let and right analog stick as you'd
expect. The only problem area that is apparent
while playing the game is still the switching
of weapons and gadgets, it just doesn't work
in the heat of battle.

Sound in the game is yet
another debilitating detail. The first complaint
is the complete and utter overuse of the
famous theme. Every time you perform a progressive
task in a mission a little "007" sign flashes
in the upper left hand corner and that damn
theme music plays. It plays in the menu and
it even plays constantly in the background
of some games. The character voices are acceptable
although it appears that the actor lending
his voice to James was trying to go back
to the Sean Connery era of Bond, a feat that
is not easily done. The rest of the voice
acting is well done and the gun sound effects
sound exactly like their real life counterparts.

If there's one aspect of
a first person shooter that can make or break
the overall of the title it would clearly
be the artificial intelligence of the various
enemies that populate the multitude of levels.
Agent Under Fire's AI is acceptable although
it's not great. A lot of the time you'll
be able to run head on and pummel opponents
as they just stand there and take it until
their ultimate demise. Enemy snipers have
the AI of a toad, apparently they can only
see what's in their laser sight and nothing
else. You can walk two inches away from their
targeting laser and they will still be oblivious
to your presence.

And last but certainly not
least is the multiplayer portion of the game.
You and three buddies can play on one Xbox
(sorry no LAN play) in any of the standard
modes. There's a standard CTF mode, a top
agent mode which makes one of the players
a more potent killer and stacks the rest
of the players against he/she, and of course
the usual plethora of deathmatch and deathmatch
variations. Multiplayer is fast and furious
and unlike its PS2 brethren, features bots
(eat that you PS2 fanboys). The multiplayer
mode definitely adds some depth to the title
which is a much needed feature thanks to
the relative shortness of the single player
experience.

Overall the game is actually
one of the more enjoyable Bond offerings
in recent memory. Some overuse of the license
and a few inadequate features keep it from
making the jump from "good" to "very good" on
the scale. I'll be looking forward to future
Bond efforts from EA. Better luck next time.

The
Final Word:
While Bond may not have the proper formula to vault it
into video game greatness, it comes respectively close
to being a good game. Some things need tweaking (if they
don't take off some of the theme music I'm going to go
on a rampage) and some others needs some slight refining
but the foundation has been set for what could be a great
series for next generation consoles.